Here’s a little known secret: The College Board — the same organization that administers the SAT to high school students — also offers 34 placement examinations for some of the most common university courses. By taking a CLEP exam, students can earn university credit, allowing them to save both time and money on costly general education and foundation courses. Credit from these exams are widely accepted at over 2,900 colleges, including the University of Arizona. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not.
Credit from these exams can go towards electives, general education and foundational courses for a variety of programs. Subjects include everything from chemistry to business to history. Each exam is $95 plus any fees, and if you pass, the credit appears on your transcript as transfer credit. This means the credit you earn from CLEP doesn’t have an impact on your grade point average — a plus if you’re worried about nonmajor courses lowering your overall GPA.
I took four of these CLEP exams over the summer. The credit earned via these exams equated to 12 credit hours: four exams which are three credit hours each. In total, the costs of these exams was around $400. If I had taken summer classes with the UA it would have been around $6,500 to take 12 credits worth of classes. All the better, I was able to study on my own time without fear of earning a bad grade.
Registration for these exams is straightforward. After making an account with the College Board, the process to register and select a test date takes only a few minutes. These exams can be taken via remote proctoring or in person at a certified testing center. In fact, you can schedule your exam as early as one day after you register, if you feel ready. During registration, you can select two schools to send your results, and there are no penalties for not passing the test, other than losing your $95. In my mind, this is a small price to pay relative to the cost of tuition, time commitment and the possibility of a tanked GPA from taking a regular college course.
If someone wants to save money by taking some of these tests, but does not have sufficient prior knowledge to just take the exam, Modern States is a gem. Modern States is a nonprofit aimed at making college more affordable. They offer a free curriculum taught by qualified professionals for all of the exam topics listed on the College Board CLEP website, where Modern States’ motto is “freshman year for free.” The course content is presented in a format nearly identical to UA’s Desire to Learn platform and covers each topic on the exam, along with providing progress checks and quizzes. If a student completes the course, they may apply for an exam waiver, and Modern States will cover the cost of the exam. By utilizing the resources of the College Board and Modern States, it is possible to save thousands of dollars of tuition while still gaining knowledge you need to be successful.
For those with prior subject knowledge, The Research and Education Association offers both study books and online practice tests for each of the exams offered by CLEP. The study books can be purchased on Amazon for $20-30. Each book comes with a unique code to access online practice tests. Alternatively, practice tests can be purchased on the website for $15. The content offered by REA is tailored specifically to the CLEP exam that they cover. In my experience, these books reflect the actual examinations very well and made me well prepared to take the tests with confidence.
By combining the resources of Modern States and the Research and Education Association, it is possible to get course content and exam fees for a wide variety of college courses, basically free. Therefore, there’s potential to save thousands of dollars of tuition money at university.
It is important to note that studying for CLEP exams is best reserved for those who like to learn on their own and that CLEP placement in subjects such as biology may not be considered acceptable by students seeking further education in fields like medicine or healthcare. Make sure to do your research on the courses you might want to take, but don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to fast-track your college education.
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Kirsten Thomas is a student at the University of Arizona. She loves personal finance and rock climbing.
